Memory Vials

If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like a scent.

Hello, I am… well, I don’t know who I am. The doctors and my parents tell me that I am suffering from memory loss due to an injury in my head. They keep telling me what my name is, but I can’t remember right now. What wouldn’t I give to get my memories back!

I had just woken up in the morning today (or was it yesterday) when I heard a knock at the door. I went to answer it, but there was no one outside. I found a package kept on the doormat and I took it inside. I haven’t opened it yet, but I am planning to.

I finally open the package and find tiny bottles inside, like the ones used for chemistry experiments. The bottles contained a clear translucent liquid. The colour of this liquid was different in different bottles. In some it was red, some yellow, others green, and very few white. But there was one bottle that contained blue liquid and somehow it attracted me the most. Trusting my instincts, I opened the bottle with the blue liquid and drank its entire contents. I started to feel dizzy and closed my eyes. 

When I opened them again, I wasn’t at my house. I don’t know where I was. All I could see was blue. It gave me the feeling of being underwater, but I knew this had something to do with the liquid I just drank. A soft voice interrupted my thoughts, “Glad to see that you received our package.” I looked around, there was no one in sight. The voice continued, “We are the Memory Fairies, cousins to the Tooth Fairies. The parcel we sent you contains all your memories. To enter them you need to drink the liquid inside, and they will enter your mind once more. The red liquid contains angry and frustrated memories, the green vials contain happy ones, the yellow is the sad memories and white are the ones when you were in a sub-conscious state.”

I asked, “But how did you get them? My memories?” “You will find out”, came the reply.

I was back in my room, the box full of my memories in front of me. I picked out a green vial. I drank its liquid. Once again, it made me feel light-headed.

It is my first day of school. I am so excited that I am bouncing up the steps. I enter my classroom. It is so big! Then a girl comes to greet me.

Memory over. I am back, the empty vial in my hand. I try out all the other green bottles. The day I made a new friend, my birthdays when I went to my grandmother’s place, etc. All the memories were there.

Soon enough, all the green vials were over. I started with red next. I saw the time when I told everyone that I had seen a ghost but nobody believed me, the time at school when my classmate was convinced that I had stolen her pen and once when my parents forgot my birthday.

Yellow liquid’s turn. My team had lost a match, I fought with my best friend, I got less marks in math, and my teacher scolded me. It was as if I was living my entire life again.

Only white was left now. I was a little anxious about it, you know, watching yourself unconscious is a little creepy. But I had to go on. I took the first vial and drank the liquid.

I had fainted due to the extremely hot sun in the garden. My friends were all crowded around me and someone sprinkled water on my face.

Another bottle.

I had fallen asleep on the school bus. Some students were pointing at me and laughing.

And now the last one.

I was in a hospital bed. This was after the time that I had slipped during basketball practice and hurt my head badly. This was when I had lost all my memories. The doctor was talking to my parents and soon all of them left the room. Tiny fairies started circling my head. One by one, all my memories started coming out of my head. First lots of green ones. The fairies captured each memory in small vials, carefully. Then red liquid started coming out, followed by yellow and finally white. After bottling each memory, the fairies disappeared.

Now I knew what had happened to my memories. But I don’t care. Because now, I have got them back.